By ANGELO ARMBRISTER

Freeport News Reporter

As the island and the nation struggle to cope with the current depressed economic conditions, the Department of Labour is doing what it can to ensure that Bahamians are given every opportunity to become self-sufficient through gainful employment.

In an interview with The Freeport News Deputy Director of Labour Tyrone Gibson explained that his department works to assist Bahamians with finding employment.

"At the Department of Labour, not just here in Grand Bahama but nationwide, we have undertaken to make a more deliberate effort to make information more accessible to the public in terms of job availability through our notification of vacancies," Gibson said.

He noted that this is a process that gives Bahamians first preference at jobs once they meet the specified requirements as it relates to the respective qualification for the job.

"Before the Immigration Department approves expatriate workers for jobs in The Bahamas, the Department of Labour must first certify that it does not know of any qualified Bahamian at that particular point in time that was willing and able to take the job," explained Gibson.

"So before people can even apply to us they must first run at least three newspaper ads and we have started now writing to companies asking them to identify to us any person who would have responded to their ads and why they still need to pursue application for the vacancy," Gibson said, adding that they would do "follow ups to ensure that the information they provide is true and correct by contacting the persons that the company say would have responded."

To-date, he said the department would have had about 315 job vacancies for the hiring of expatriate workers this year, more than half of which fell in the areas of caregivers, domestic workers, or gardeners and handymen.

The department, he explained, has had it share of challenges trying to convince Bahamians to take those jobs and encourage those that do to stick with it.

"Some of the jobs that come to our attention are high paying in the engineering field, but as with everything else today, it requires a certain level of proficiency... Qualifications become a key issue in this," he said.

Gibson noted that the department can refer persons for jobs, but that is as far as it goes, as the employer reserves the right to decide who is right for the job and their company.

"So far for the year we have had 996 people come in to register for employment assistance, and of that number, we've been able to place 115," Gibson explained, adding that it is a good amount when more that five persons are recommended at a time for a particular job opening.

He added that the department is in the process of making upgrades to their system to improve the electronic monitoring of persons who would have applied to the department for jobs.

The department officer then encouraged persons to come in to register with the department as well as give regular updates of their skill level so that when jobs are made available, if a registered profile fits the job vacancy description, it would be referred to the respective employer for review.

All information will be electronically stored and persons can visit the department's website at www.bah-amas.gov.bs/labour to learn what they need to do as it relates to registration as well as learn of the role of the department. Once you are on the site, go to employment exchange services and simply follow the instructions.

The deputy director advised job seekers to do a serious assessment of the market and where they need go, they should acquire further skills training to stay current because "national boundaries do not keep skills out."

"Bahamians need to understand that just as people come in, we go out, as I've had an occasion recently where a major financial institution had asked for assistance in bringing some people in for certain key and high paying positions...," he said adding that there were Bahamians that fit the qualification specified for the positions but they were working outside of the country at the time.

"When we reach a certain level of proficiency, we also go out because if we have the skills, national boundaries will no longer be a limit," Gibson said.

At present, he said, the market is open for teachers, particularly in the private sector, and the Container Port for those qualified persons, engineers as well as pharmacists.

"The Department of Stati-stics released some figures recently of the unemployment rate in Grand Bahama ... and I believe that combined with those that are unemployed and those that have gotten too discouraged to look, we are somewhere in the area of 15 percent," he said.

The Department's Labour Force and Household Income Survey revealed that the unemployment rate climbed nationally by almost one percentage point this year from 7.9 percent in 2007 to 8.7 percent in 2008.

In Grand Bahama, the unemployment number went from 8.8 percentage points to nine over the same period.